Scornful Stars by Richard Baker

Author:Richard Baker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

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Forty-nine days after departing for a forty-day patrol, Decisive returned to the Pleiades Squadron home port at Tawahi Island in Neda. Sikander relished the sight of the warm yellow sands and the brilliant tropical waters in the bridge’s sweeping display screens, and found that he almost couldn’t wait for the destroyer to make its stately descent to the surface—after all the troubles and complications of their long cruise, he was more than ready for some shorter workdays and actual weekends that featured a little fishing or golf. If Neda was not exactly Kashmir or New Perth, it was home of a sort, and no one could complain about the weather.

“Helm, come left to course three-five-three, down fifteen,” Ensign Carter ordered. The sensor officer had the conn for the landing maneuver, another junior officer practicing her ship handling. Sikander tried hard not to dwell on the idea of twenty-six thousand tons of steel moving at a thousand kilometers per hour in the hands of someone who’d graduated from the Academy less than a year ago, and studiously adopted an expression of mild interest in Grace Carter’s approach. “Atmospheric maneuvering: all engines, ahead one-half.”

Sikander shifted in his command couch, and decided that a little helpful advice wouldn’t hurt the ensign’s ego too much. “Take your time, Ms. Carter. I appreciate your enthusiasm, but we don’t want to greet the base with a sonic boom. It’s not too early to slow down a bit more.”

“Er, yes, sir,” Carter replied. “Helm, all engines, ahead one-third.”

“Atmospheric maneuvering, all engines ahead one-third,” Quartermaster Birk at the ship’s helm replied.

“We’ve got gravity helping us now,” Sikander continued. “The planet wants us on the ground sooner rather than later. Speed is what gets you into trouble with docking maneuvers, both in space and on the surface.” Or that’s what Captain Garvey told me a hundred times or so when I was an ensign on Adept, he recalled. Not that I listened very well. Then again, I suppose captains have been telling ensigns to be a little more careful with their ships since navies sailed the waters of ancient Earth.

“Yes, sir. I’ll remember, sir.”

“You’re doing fine, Ms. Carter,” Sikander said in the most reassuring tone he could manage. He even managed to remain silent when Decisive splashed down hard enough to raise a two-meter wave in the mooring basin … which, fortunately, was not lined with spectators waiting for the ship to dock. Ensign Carter winced, but she remembered the rest of the mooring commands well enough, and finished up the landing sequence without any more trouble.

“Not bad, Ms. Carter,” Sikander told her when she finished. “A little less speed next time; twenty-six thousand tons have a certain amount of momentum, after all. Secure from landing detail and establish the in-port watch, if you please. XO, pass the word: General liberty for all hands not in the duty section.”

“My pleasure, Captain,” Fraser replied. “Shall I tell the squadron we’re on our way?”

“Please do. Meet me on the

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